WELCOME TO IRISH MEDICAL NEWS

I Am A Medical Professional ?

Organ transplants increase by 11 per cent in 2017

There was a record-breaking rise in organ transplants in Ireland last year: 311 organ transplants from 99 deceased organ donations were carried, which is an increase of 11 per cent on the previous year.

Kidney transplants from deceased donation has grown to 141, 51 of which were undertaken at the National Renal Transplant Centre in Beaumont Hospital.

There were 62 liver transplants at the relocated National Liver and Pancreas Transplant Service at St. Vincent’s University Hospital (SVUH), with five simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplants taking place in 2017.

The National Heart and Lung Transplant Service, Mater Misericordiae Hospital (MMUH), saw one of the highest rates for lung transplants in Europe (36), in addition to 16 heart transplants.

Professor Jim Egan, Director, HSE Organ Donation and Transplant Ireland (ODTI) said: “I wish to recognise the extraordinary work performed by the National Organ Procurement Service and the national transplant centres in conjunction with all the Intensive Care Units (ICU) across the country, all of whom work with the shared goal of saving lives. I also congratulate both the Irish Kidney Association on their 40th Anniversary and the National Renal Transplant Service at Beaumont Hospital who recently completed their 5000th kidney transplant”.

“Most importantly, I wish to acknowledge that every transplant performed is as a result of the generosity of a deceased donor family at a time of great personal loss, or a living donor who save and enhance the lives of others”, he concluded.